Automobile heater



Aug. 27, 1935. FINDLEY 2,012,745 AUTOMOBILE HEATER Filed March 6, 1935 N INVENTOR. H ward JFfn d/ey.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 27, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AUTOMOBILE HEATER Application March 6,1935, Serial No. 9,640

9 Claims.

This invention relates to air heaters and particularly to air heaters for heating the air in the interiors of automotive vehicles utilizing waste heat of the vehicle engine.

Heaters of this general class have been proposed comprising a so-called radiator having walled circulating passages therein through which liquid from the liquid circulating cooling system of the engine is circulated, and comprising air passages through which air is forced or blown by a motor-driven blower or fan in heat-absorbing contact with the walls of the liquid passageways, the air thus heated being blown into the vehicle interior.

Such heaters comprising a radiator, a fan or blower, and a motor for driving the latter, besides the water line connections through the radiator from the engine liquid circulating system, occupy a considerable volume of space and when installed in the usual passenger compartment of the usual automotive vehicle, take up so much room as to inconvenience the passengers.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide generally an improved air heater of the class referred to.

Another object is to provide a heater of the class referred to which may be installed upon an automotive vehicle to supply heat to the passen: ger compartment thereof and which will occupy the minimum of space therein for a given heating capacity.

Another object is to provide a heater of the class referred to comprising a radiator, a blower,

and a blower motor, disposed and arranged in an improved manner.

Another object is to provide a heater of the class referred to constructed to be mounted upon the so-called dash between the passenger compartment and the engine compartment of an automotive vehicle, and to dispose the heater in the passenger compartment and the motor in th engine compartment.

Another object is to provide anautomotive vehicle heater construction of the class referred to adapted to be installed upon a vehicle which has been completed and put into use and permitting convenient mounting thereof on the dash of the vehicle, with the blower motor on, the engine side and the radiator fan or blower on 50 the passenger compartment side of the dash.

Another object is to provide, in a heater of the class referred to, improved means for supporting the fan or blower of the heater and the driving motor therefor.

Another object is to provide, in the liquid circulating radiator and air blower type of air heater, improved volumetric air flow efliciency.

Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains.

My invention is fully disclosed in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view with parts broken away for clearness of an air heater embodying my invention and installed upon a frag- 10 mentarily illustrated portion of a vehicle dash;

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the heater of Fig. 1 taken from the left side as viewed in that figure; r

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken approximately 15 from the plane 33 of Fig. 2 with some of the parts in elevation;

v Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken approximately from the plane 4-4 of Fig. 1 and drawn to a smaller scale;

Fig. 5 isla view taken approximately from the plane 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawing, I have illustrated generally at l the dash of an automotive vehicle which is disposed between the passenger com'- partment and the engine compartment of the usual automotive vehicle; at 2 a motor in the engine compartment; and at 3 and 4, respectively, a blower and a radiator on the passenger compartment side of the dash I.

'30 The radiator, the exact construction of which constitutes no essential part of my invention, comprises, in the form illustrated, a pair of vertically spaced heads 5-5 of sheet metal to which are sealedly connected at opposite ends a plurality of tubes 66, the tubes opening at their ends into upper and lower header chambers 'I--'|' sealedly connected to the head elements 5-5..

Circulating pipes 8 and 9 project at their ends into the header chambers 1-1 with sealed con-. 40

.nection with the walls of the chambers, and at the outer or right-hand ends as viewed in the drawing are broken away to simplify the drawing, and in the practice of my invention the pipes B and 9 are connected at suitable points to the liquid circulating cooling system of the vehicle engine.

By this construction when the engine is running andliquid is being circulated throughits cooling system, the liquid is diverted from the cooling system into the pipe 8 and thence flows to the pipe 9 through the header chambers I and the tubes 6 heating the pipes. Inasmuch as the manner of connecting heater liquid supply pipes such as the pipes 8 and 9 to the circulating system of the vehicle engine is well known, it is believed unnecessary to illustrate or describe the same herein.

The head elements -5 of the radiator are joined by laterally spaced side walls l4, thus providing a rectangular passageway II in which the pipes 6 are disposed transversely, through which passageway air may be blown by the fan 3 in a manner to be described.

A hollow rectangular back plate l2 surrounds the radiator constructed as above described and is provided with a peripheral flange l3 upon which is telescopically mounted a peripheral wall l4 of a radiator cover having a front wall l5 provided with an opening l6 therein forming a continuation of the passageway II. p

The radiator thus constructed is supported by a pair of spaced sleeves l1 and I3 terminating in flanges l9-l 9 rigidly secured to the back plate l2 of the radiator; the sleeves II are externally threaded as at 20 and are projected through perforations or bores 2I-2l in the dash I and rigidly mounted on the dash in the horizontally extend.- ing positions shown, by clamp nuts 22 and 23 on each side of the dash. In the preferred con- 'struction, a channel element 24, is provided extending across the face of the dash I having' spaced perforations in the web thereof throughwhich the sleeves l1 and I. are projected, so that the channel 24 is also clampeiupon the dash by the clamp nuts 22 and 23.

The pipest and 9 extend axially through and are supported by the sleeves l1 and I3 and thus the pipes and the entire radiatorconstruction are supported by the sleeves i1 and l 4 upon the dash I.

The motor 2 illustrated is a motor of the vacuum-operated type but this'is not essential inasmuch as my invention may be practiced with other forms of motor such as electric, the vacuum type motor being illustrated to show that my invention may be embodied in an apparatus of minimum dimensions, not only in the passenger compartment, but in the engine compartment of -the vehicle. The motor 2 comprises a housing 21 having therein an impeller type rotor 28 and having a jet nozzle 29 projecting into the housing and a nipple 3| communicating with the housing interior adapted to be connected, by a hose or other suitable conduit means, to a source of engine vacuum at the engine such as a point on the intake manifold. The housing 21 is otherwise hermetically sealed and when suction is appliedat the nipple 34, a jet of atmospheric air will be forced through the nozzle 29 and direct a jet of air upon the blades of the impeller rotor 23 and rotate the'same in a well known manner.

Means illustrated generally at 3! is provided to control the rate of withdrawal of air from the housing 21 through the nipple 30 to control the rate of rotation of the rotor 23. This means is more fully illustrated and described in my copending application Serial No. 713,543, flied March 1, 1934, for improvements in Heaters for automobiles (attorney's Docket No. 1705) and reference gray be had thereto for a more complete descrip- Integrally secured to the housing 21 and extending therefrom coaxially with the axis of rotation of the rotor 28, is a sleeve 32 in which is mounted a bearing bushing 33 and a shaft 34 connected to the rotor 23 is rotatably supported in the bearing bushing33. The sleeve 32 is telescoped into a thimble 35 externally threaded and having outwardly a shoulder uponwhich the sleeve 32 abuts and having inwardly aflange3l. Perforationsflandflare provided in the dash I and in the abovementioned channel web 24, and the thimble 35 with the sleeve 32 and bearing 33 therein are projected through the perforations 38 and 33 with the flange 31 upon the inner side of the channel web 24 and a nut 43 on the threaded thimble is drawn up to clamp the channel web between the flange and the nut. By this construction, the sleeve 32 and therefore the motor housing 21 is rigidly supported on the channel 24.

The rotor shaft 34 extends outwardly from the end of the thiinble 35 and the fan 3 is mounted thereon. The fan mounting preferably comprises a bushing 4| telescoped on the shaft, a set screw 42 securing the bushing to the shaft, washers 43-43 telescoped over a threaded portion 44 of the bushing 4| with a hub 45 of the fan 3 therebetween, and a nut 46 clamping the fan between the washers and rigidly securing it on the sleeve 4|. A thrust washer 41 may be provided on the shaft 34 between the outer end of the bearing 33 and the inner end of the sleeve 4|.

The fan 3 by the above described construction will be seen to be supported adjacent the dash I and to rotate in planes generally parallel thereto. The fan is circumferentially enclosed in a. sheet metal funnel 48 comprising an annular portion 49 opening toward the dash I and coaxial with the fan. The annular portion 49 is joined to the above-described rectangular frame 5-5, Iii-l0, which provides the passageway II, by flaring side wall portions 50-50, the rectangular passageway ll preferably being larger than the diameter of the fan, to allow for space taken up by the tubes 6-6. r

It will be observed that between the open end of. the funnel 48 at 5| and the dash I there is a considerable space and air'may move radially inwardly through this space in the direction indicated by the arrow 52 and be forced in the axial direction by the fan 3 forwardly through the funnel 48 and through the radiator and out as indicated by the arrow 53, and a continuous free flowing blast of air may thus be blown through the radiator by the fan 3, the air being heated by the hot water circulating through the radiator as above described.

By the construction above provided it will be :observed that the motor 2 is entirely out of the passenger compartment, being on the engine side of the dash, and that the radiator and fan in the passenger compartment will occupy the minimum of space therein. By employing the channel 24 in the preferred construction, it is insured that the fan will be axially centered between the sleeves l1 and I3 and that the fan blades will be centered coaxially of the annular portion 49 of the air funnel. This is provided by centering 'the shaft of the fan and the sleeves I1 and It in predisposing perforations in the web 24 of the one-piece channel-form member. Furthermore, the motor and fan and radiator are all supported in predetermined cooperative positions by the channel and independently of the more or less irregularly formed and located perforations 2| and 33 which may be made through the dash at tion provides that the motor, the fan, the fan 7 a unit for transportation and to install the same the fan may be disconnected by means of the said screw 42 to permit withdrawal of the motor sleeve 32; and after the channel 24 is installed on the dash, the fan and motor may be reassembled therewith in their predetermined positions, thus rendering the assembling and installation of the device in a car quick, convenient and fool-proof.

If desired, the front opening H; of the radiator cover may be provided with doors 54-54 for conveniently changing the direction of egress of the heated air from the radiator in a well known manner.

While I have shown the element 24 as of channel form, it will be understood that this of course is not essential but is preferably employed as providing a maximum of strength with the minimum of material and as providing a recess between the fianges of the channel for the flange 31 of the thimble 35. It will be apparent, therefore, that other forms of element 24 may be used. Similarly, many other changes and modifications may be made in the above described embodiment of my invention without departing from the spirit thereof and without sacrificing its advantages and within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A heater for automotive vehicles of the class comprising a vehicle compartment partition, a radiator and an air blower for blowing air therethrough supported at one side of the partition, and a motor for driving the blower supported at the other side of the partition having a blower driving shaft extending through the partition and a support on the partition having a rotary shaft bearing thereon.

2. A heater for automotive vehicles of the type comprising an engine compartment and a passenger compartment and a dash therebetween, the

heater comprising a radiator and an air blower for blowing air therethrough disposed in the passenger compartment at one side of the dash, the heater having liquid conduits extending through the dash for connection with the liquid circulating system of the engine, and a motor for driving the blower disposed in the engine compartment at the other side'of the dash and having a blower driving shaft extending through the dash and a support on the dash supporting the liquid conduit and a rotary bearing for the shaft.

3. A heater for automotive vehicles of the type comprising an engine compartment and a passenger compartment and a dash therebetween, the heater comprising a radiator and an air blower for blowing air therethrough disposed in the passenger compartment at one side of the dash, a motor for driving the blower disposed in the engine compartment at the other side of the dash and having a blower driving shaft extending through the dash, means to heat the radiator from waste heat of the vehicle engine and a support secured to the dash supporting the motor and a rotary shaft bearing.

4. A heater for automotivevehicles comprising a radiator disposed at one side of the vehicle dash and having liquid conduits extending through the dash for connection to the circulating system of the vehicle, a blower for blowing air through the radiator, and a motor for driving the blower, a drive shaft extending through the dash and connecting the blower and motor, and the blower being on the radiator side of the dash and the motor on the other side and a support on the dash supporting the motor and the liquid conduits.

5. In a heater construction for automotive vee hicles of the type comprising a dash between passenger and engine compartments of the vehicle, a radiator in the passenger compartment, a motor in the engine compartment, a motor shaft extending through the dash, a blower for blowing air through the radiator disposed in the passenger.

compartment driven by the shaft and a support on the dash supporting the radiator, the motor and a shaft rotary bearing.

6. In a heater for automotive vehicles comprising a. dash, a frame element secured to the dash having a bearing support thereon, a rotary shaft element rotatably supported in the bearing support, a motor rotor connected to the shaft on one side of the dash and an air blower connected to the shaft at the otherside of the dash, a motor stator associated with the rotor and supported by the frame element, a hot-liquid-heated radiator disposed to have air blown therethrough by the blower, liquid circulating conduit means communicating with the radiator extending through the dash and adapted to be connected to the liquid cooling circulating system of the vehicle engine.

7. In a heater for the interiors of automotive vehicles comprising a dash, a radiator having a polygonal air flow walled passageway. therethrough, and supported by the dash and spaced therefrom, a rotary bladed fan spaced from the an air funnel comprising an annular wall portion surrounding the fan blades and joined to and merging with the polygonal passageway opening polygonal air flow walled passageway therethrough and supported by the dash and spaced therefrom, a rotary bladed fan spaced from the radiator and between the radiator and the dash, an air funnel comprising an annular wall portion surrounding the fan blades and joined to and merging with the polygonal passageway opening by outwardly flaring wall portions, a radial flow air passageway between the fan and tire dash, and a fan driving motor on the other side of the dash.

9. In a heater for automotive vehicles of the class comprising an engine and a passenger compartment with a dash therebetween, a radiator in the passenger compartment having liquid circulating conduits extending through the dash for connection with the circulating system of the vehicle engine and supporting the radiator, a fan in the passenger compartment, a, motor in the,

engine compartment driving the fan by a shaft extending through the dash, and a support on the dash supporting a rotary bearing for the shaft,

the motor and the conduits.

nowmn J. mm.

. radiator and between the radiator and the dash, I 

